It is desirable to monitor retailer compliance with advertising programs. Advertising that is not displayed has no value to a company. However, non-compliance with an advertising program is difficult to detect in a timely manner.
In the past, the primary way to collect information about whether retail outlets were complying with an advertising program was to rely on site surveys. These surveys were typically performed by manufacturer sales representatives, store delivery personnel, or independent survey companies. However, site surveys are generally expensive, incomplete, and untimely.
The direct costs associated with site surveys are substantial. Independent survey companies charge significant fees for travel time, as well as for data collection/tabulation. Consequently, information is typically available for only a subset or sample of the thousands or tens-of-thousands of stores targeted for a particular advertising program.
To save money, some companies request that delivery personnel and/or sales representatives compile compliance information while they are at a retail store for other purposes. The diversion of these personnel from doing their ordinary tasks (such as restocking or selling) can be substantial. Moreover, these personnel have little compliance training or Quality Assurance skills to ensure reporting consistency or accuracy. In addition, such visits are not of sufficient frequency to ascertain exactly when compliance with a particular advertising program began or ended.
Furthermore, compliance survey reports (whether by professionals or company personnel) usually lag the survey date. This delay prevents a timely rectification for non-complying stores. In particular, if an advertising program is designed to run for two weeks, it is important to know within a day of when the program was supposed to start which retail sites are out of compliance so the sites can be made compliant in a timely manner. The size of the staff and expense required to visit all advertising sites within 48 hours is prohibitive. Therefore, surveys or visits to a subset of sites are the only practical way to monitor compliance. However, for the reasons stated above, surveys are only sufficient for general or strategic conclusions, and are incapable of improving tactical POP compliance in a timely manner. Visits to a subset of sites do not yield sufficient information for full-compliance advertising goals.
Companies, such as petroleum companies and consumer packaged goods companies, spend millions of dollars to run a given POP program. Retail performance varies greatly. However, it is common for more than 50% of retail sites, presumed to be participating, to be out of compliance. The present invention provides an efficient system for quickly identifying every non-complying site by using tags (e.g., wireless RFID tags) on each advertising sign or marketing material. The system also provides companies with information about when a POP program is running, what advertising is and is not being displayed, and when new signs will be produced and shipped to retail outlets. The system can monitor other merchandizing conditions besides signage, such as the presence or absence of display racks or containers, the presence of promotional hardware, or the presence of certain items to be sold under certain conditions. It can also monitor and report specific pricing associated with particular signs or marketing materials. The system can also monitor and report exposure of particular shoppers to marketing materials that are being monitored by the system. The system will therefore allow companies to monitor and remedy compliance problems during an advertising program, which will improve overall compliance and increase the effectiveness of the advertising program. It will also allow fee-based marketing programs that are conditional upon certain retail conditions being present at a particular time to be executed with more precision, reliability, and verifiability. Furthermore, it will allow the flow of specific shopper traffic within a store to be monitored and analyzed. In addition, the system will allow subsequent marketing programs, such as coupons or direct mail, to be tailored to or made conditional on shopper interests, shopping patterns, or prior exposure to marketing materials.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an advertising or marketing material compliance monitoring system that provides compliance monitoring in a timely and cost effective manner.
It is also desirable to provide an advertising compliance monitoring system that makes determining compliance easy.
It is desirable to provide a wireless compliance monitoring system that uses active tags that conserve battery power.
It is also desirable to provide a wireless compliance monitoring system that uses passive tags to determine the specific location (within a narrow range) of selected marketing materials and/or version of selected marketing materials.
It is also desirable to provide a wireless compliance monitoring system that uses contact technology (such as EEPROM, optical, notch, or magnetic ink) to determine the specific location (within a very narrow range) and/or version of selected marketing materials.
It is desirable to provide a compliance monitoring system that uses passive tags that are small and light, making it easier to secure to advertising signs.
It is also desirable to transmit data from sign locations to a central collection point at individual retail sites using wireless technology for ease of installation at retail sites.
It is also desirable to provide a switch on the reader for switching a tag between different power conservation modes, such as OFF, sleep mode, or continuous monitoring mode.
It is desirable to transmit data from each retail site to a central storage/processing location to report individual and aggregate retailer execution of and consumer exposure to specific and aggregated marketing programs.
Thus, a need exists for an advertising compliance monitoring system that provides versatility and flexibility by providing a tag, associated with a specific sign, that communicates tag data to an external reader. The present invention provides a way to quickly and positively identify each tag, determine the status of each sign (e.g., delivered, displayed), monitor compliance with a marketing program, monitor customer exposure to a marketing program, and analyze tag data relating to the display of and exposure to advertising signs, marketing materials, pricing information, marketing program merchandise, and supporting hardware.